


We all live in a pokémon world

by Evietan



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, 弱虫ペダル | Yowamushi Pedal
Genre: Gen, Pokemon Journey, fun fun adventures where ten-year-olds almost die all the time, more characters will be added as they appear - Freeform, this fic is all about friendship but not just one or a few in particular so I can't tag any ugh
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-14
Updated: 2017-09-14
Packaged: 2018-12-29 19:46:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12092145
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Evietan/pseuds/Evietan
Summary: A series of intertwining oneshots that follow the yowapeda characters as they journey through the fantastic world of pokémon.First up: Manami.





	We all live in a pokémon world

**Author's Note:**

> Pokémon AUs are still my favourite thing in the world, and I've been thinking about this one forever, so here it is!  
> I had so much fun writing Manami, he's such a precious little oddball :D

A pokémon journey was every child’s dream. A year off school, filled with adventures, new friends, exciting discoveries and above all, a team of pokémon at your side? Why on earth _wouldn’t_ you go? Everyone went. Miyahara was going to go, too, just like the rest of their class.

That’s what Manami had been telling his parents for the past couple of months, and yet his own departure still stood on shaky ground. They understood why he wanted to go, they just didn’t think it was possible. After all, he even spent a lot of his time absent from school because he was sick, how could he take on such a strenuous journey all by himself? Days of walking, sleeping outside in the cold, rain and snow and difficult terrain, all these obstacles were already a challenge to overcome when you were healthy.

It wasn’t like he needed to go to get a pokémon either, he already owned a swablu. His parents had bought it for him years ago as they were known for their gentle natures and their cotton wings made for excellent pillows. A good choice to keep a sick boy company while he was stuck in bed. And she was very sweet, so it worked out very well.

Manami still thought it was cruel. If he felt caged in his room, unable to really do anything, how must it have felt for a bird pokémon? She sometimes flew out to their backyard to pick him flowers, but that couldn’t be enough. He wanted to take her out to see the world, that was the second reason why he needed to go on a journey this badly. He probably wouldn’t even fight or compete much, he had zero drive to become a champion or anything like that. He just needed out. Maybe he’d even find something he wanted to do along the way.

It took his parents until the last minute to decide, but in the end, they let him go. Not on foot, but on a bike. One of those that had a little motor that supported you up to a certain speed so he’d be only getting mild exercise even when going uphill. Manami didn’t particularly like the idea, he wasn’t some grandma, but he took the opportunity with a grateful smile anyway.

Miyahara offered to travel together with him, since she had a bike too – a regular one – but she wanted to go see the next big city while Manami wanted to go to the lakes and hills first, and those were in opposite directions. Manami promised her to charge his phone so they could text and maybe meet up eventually if they happened to be close at some point in their journeys.

With that promise and a happy wave to his parents, he was off. It was spring, the weather was great, and Manami couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt this good. Since he was going slow anyway, he let swablu out of her pokéball to fly beside him. Finally, his very own pokémon adventure was about to unfold!

He hadn’t been cycling for that long when he saw someone else ride in the opposite direction at breakneck speed, then skid to an abrupt halt right in front of Manami, forcing him to brake and stop too.

The boy had wild, green-ish blue hair and looked like he was at least a year or two older than Manami, if not more. “Hey, you,” he bellowed, “I just started my pokémon journey today! It’s the same for you, right? Let’s have a battle!”

Huh, so maybe they were the same age after all. Manami saw no reason to decline, pokémon battles were supposed to be fun, way more fun than videogames, and it was best to start fighting another beginner. “Sure,” he agreed, “one against one? I only have swablu so far.”

“Buha, fine by me! I couldn’t stop long enough yet to catch anything either. Come on, go tepig!”

They were still in the middle of the road, but the other boy didn’t seem to care, so Manami just accepted it. He gave a nod to his swablu and ordered her to use peck. The one to strike first always had the advantage in videogames, so it was probably the same in real life.

The attack connected, but it wasn’t enough to take tepig out, and it retaliated with ember, scorching swablu’s cotton wings black where the flames hit. They traded a couple more blows, pretty straightforward and without much strategy or variation, but eventually Manami’s swablu fell to the ground unable to get up anymore.

He was about to congratulate his opponent when the boy shouted again. “Hey, that can’t be all, right? Tepig, use ember again!” All the alarm bells in Manami’s head began to ring. You couldn’t attack a pokémon that was already defeated, or it might take serious damage! Without thinking, he threw himself forward to pull swablu out of harm’s way, completely disregarding the flames that were hitting his arm. His heart was beating like crazy, but he could see, hear and feel everything around him in incredible detail, the rush of it unlike anything he’d ever experienced before.

“Shit,” he heard the other boy curse as he called back his pokémon. “Are you hurt? I totally forgot myself for a moment, I didn’t mean to do that!”

Manami waved him off. The pain was a nice change of pace from the dullness of his comfortable bed, and swablu hadn’t been hit by the last attack, she would be just fine. Still, the boy insisted on bandaging his arm and even gave him a revive for swablu. In a sudden surge of inspiration, Manami asked if they should trade numbers. It was kinda cool to commemorate your first opponent and keep in touch, right?

Doubashi – as Manami finally learned – agreed without much thought, and then he was on his bike again, speeding away just as fast as he’d shown up. Manami treated swablu to a potion and some of his sandwich, then he got back on his bike as well, though his speed was much slower. But his arm throbbed beneath the bandage, and a smile spread across his face.

He reached the lakes early in the afternoon, and went to look for some more pokémon there. He wasn’t too upset about losing his first battle, but he figured if he ever wanted to stand a chance, he’d need more than just one pokémon. Water pokémon were a staple in battling, and it was generally recommended to own at least one so you could surf.

Soon enough, he stumbled upon a wooper. It was easy enough to fight and catch, and Manami felt an immediate kinship with it as it just kept smiling the same smile even as he kept hitting it. He wasn’t one to give out nicknames, but he at least checked the gender so he wouldn’t have to refer to his new friend as ‘it’. Wooper was a lovely little boy who liked to run and swim around, and Manami promised to take good care of him.

There was a pokémon center between the lakes and the hills, so Manami decided to take a rest there and stay the night, even if it was only late afternoon. He wouldn’t get past them today anymore, and camping wasn’t the best idea in his condition. He could already feel the tiredness seeping into his bones. So he called it an early night, even if he couldn’t stop staring out the window and wishing he was out there in the hills.

His sleep was restless and he didn’t feel that great, but he still set off, not about to be held back by such a minor inconvenience. He needed to get through the hills in one day, and if it didn’t feel so terrible to use the motor in his bike, he might have even been grateful for it. In the end, though, he hated it despite how much it helped.

The sun was already setting when Manami started climbing the last hill, but he knew he’d make it to the next pokémon center, so he kept going. He’d promised his parents to be careful, after all, and if he got sick for no reason somewhere in the middle of nowhere without immediate access to help on just the second day, they were sure to pull him back home.

What he didn’t expect was to find another boy collapsed next to the road, a pidgey and a bulbasaur nervously scurrying around him, clearly at a loss of what to do.

Manami crouched down next to him, lightly shaking his shoulder, and when he thankfully got a reaction – bleary and confused but at least he was conscious – he offered him his water bottle. The boy gladly downed it and ate what was left of Manami’s lunch too, before profoundly apologizing and thanking him.

“I can’t believe I caused you so much trouble! I just was so excited yesterday when I set off that I kept putting off going to sleep and then suddenly it was morning so I just kept going, but I didn’t think to buy food or water before getting into the hills and eventually I just fell off my bike and couldn’t move anymore. I thought for sure I was going to die until you showed up! Ah, my name is Onoda Sakamichi by the way. Really, I’m so sorry but I can’t thank you enough! And now I made you listen to my rambling on top of it all! You must think I’m so weird!”

“It’s fine,” Manami assured him, “I totally understand the feeling. When I slept at the pokémon center yesterday, all I could think about was exploring these hills, and it was really difficult not to just jump out of bed and keep biking.” They pushed their bikes to the top of the hill together and didn’t part at the center either, choosing to share a room. It was nice, having company for the night, it took the edge off being confined to a bed again. Sakamichi was a really nice guy and incredibly enthusiastic about pokémon, but not much of a battler, at least not yet.

They traded numbers too, and Manami thought he might actually start remembering to charge his phone now with so many people trying to get in contact with him at least occasionally.

The next morning, they went their separate ways again, after Sakamichi apologized another couple of times. Sakamichi wanted to explore the small town they were in, but Manami only stocked up on supplies before he went to the forest.

What happened there was even more unexpected than his meeting with Sakamichi. The day started off totally normal, Manami trained a little and considered catching another pokémon, but none of the ones he met really spoke to him. Sometimes he thought he saw a shadow following him, but he probably just imagined it, so he didn’t pay it much mind.

Around noon, the entire forest was on fire.

Now, just to make it clear, even though some people told him he looked like someone who’d set fire to someone’s house and smile as he watched it burn to the ground, the fire had nothing to do with him. He had no idea how it started. But it was there, and pokémon were fleeing left and right and he was trying to do the same, but even with his bike, he was much slower than them. Smoke started filling up his lungs and it got difficult to breathe. Just like when he got hit by tepig’s ember, his heart was beating like crazy again, and with the adrenaline rushing through his veins it almost felt like he had a good time.

Except the smoke really started to wear him down, and his head wasn’t clear like back then at all, he could barely even move in a straight line anymore. The coughing fits were starting to get so bad he might fall of his bike soon.

“Lumineon, defog!” All of a sudden, the smoke disappeared, and Manami could make out two figures running towards him.

“Hey kid, are you alright?” The one that wasn’t carrying around a fish that could somehow dissolve fog grabbed his shoulder. Manami thought he looked pissed, but according to his words he was more worried, so he went with that.

“I’m fine, there’s no need to worry about me.” He put on his best smile.

“Great. We don’t have time for this. That way’s out of the forest and away from the fire. Hurry up and leave, the defog’s not gonna last forever with the fire constantly spitting out more smoke.”

“Eeeeh? I’m a pokémon trainer, I can help! You’re gonna go put out the fire and rescue all the pokémon, right? Since you were running right to where everyone else was running from!”

Fish boy laughed. “Wahaha, he’s sharp, Arakita, let him help! What kind of pokémon do you have besides that phantump? It’s a grass type, so it probably won’t be too much help with a forest fire.”

Even though fish boy had a weird laugh and a weird fashion sense – a headband, really? – at least he seemed like he knew what he was doing. Wait, phantump? What phantump? He didn’t have- oh. There was one right next to him, clinging to his arm, as if he was its trainer. Well, he might as well just roll with it and keep it. If it stuck around for him helping with the fire, that was. “A swablu and a wooper,” Manami supplied, and it barely even took a second for headband-fish-dude to answer.

“You should send your swablu into the air then to look for any pokémon that might be trapped by the fire, and use wooper to put out the fire and create a path for them to flee. But don’t get closer to the main part of the fire than you already are. It won’t help anyone if you die. You’re quite the looker too, I’m sure there’s a girl who would greatly miss your company too.”

“Toudou, what the fuck,” Arakita complained, “Fuku-chan’s waiting, we gotta go. Leave the poor kid alone.”

“What,” headband-fish-girltalk-Toudou protested, “I’m just saying it how it is!”

They went to leave anyway, caught up in their argument, but suddenly they heard a bunch of trees falling down, along with a stomping sound. “Get down and out of the way,” Arakita yelled, but all Manami could do was stare in awe as a wild horde of rapidash, arcanine and darmanitan ran towards him in a wild haze.

Suddenly Toudou was next to him again and Manami got caught up staring at his eyes, because he could’ve sworn they’d been purple just seconds ago, when now they were light blue and shimmering like the aurora. But maybe he’d just started hallucinating, because he could feel an icy wind pick up and a shiver run down his spine.

A single blue pokémon jumped between them and the wild fire pokémon, and now Manami was almost certain he was hallucinating, because it sure looked like the legendary pokémon suicune just showed up out of nowhere to protect them, but that couldn’t be true.

The horde of fire pokémon dispersed within moments, obviously instinctively aware of suicune’s power, leaving Manami breathless and dumbfounded.

“You still up to help?” Toudou’s gaze was worried, but Manami couldn’t give him a proper answer to that right now.

“Sure, why not?” Lying was easier than just screaming ‘what the fuck just happened?!’

Toudou raised his eyebrows but ultimately just shrugged. “Even if that was the cause we still need to put out the fire.” Suicune jumped ahead, and Toudou and Arakita followed as quickly as they could. “Oh yeah, keep this a secret, okay?” Toudou raised a finger to his mouth and winked, then he disappeared behind the trees.

Had… Had that really happened right now? Most people went their entire lives without ever seeing a legendary pokémon, and he got saved by one on just the third day of his journey? Still a bit dazed, Manami got back on his feet, breathed in deeply – the air around him was definitely too cold and fresh for the circumstances – and set swablu out to look for pokémon that might need help.

 

18:42 From: Doubashi

I got my first gym badge today! It was barely even a fight, we just overpowered the guy no problem! How are you holding up?

19:12 From: Class Rep

Sangaku! I heard there was a forest fire near where you wanted to go! Please tell me you’re alright and didn’t get caught up in it!

19:57 To: Class Rep

No need to worry~ I got caught up in it a little, but I’m perfectly fine

19:58 From: Class Rep

You got caught up in it?! Of course I’m going to worry! You might be hurt or get sick if you inhaled too much smoke!

19:59 To: Class Rep

I already got checked, I’m really fine. Just don’t tell my parents, they’d freak out. Please?

20:01 From: Class Rep

Fine. But take care of yourself.

20:01 To: Class Rep

I will.

20:04 To: Doubashi

I got caught up in a forest fire today and almost died! I can still feel the smoke burning in my lungs :D

20:07 From: Doubashi

Why the fuck do you sound so happy about that? Weirdo.

 

The next morning, Manami was sick. Maybe he’d breathed in too much smoke after all, or he’d been in the heat too long, or the stress was catching up to him, or he was just generally exhausted from travelling so much. It didn’t really matter. He had to stay in bed, listening to all his friends’ accomplishments while he was stuck inside yet again. Miyahara managed to win her first gym badge, Sakamichi caught a wimpod and Doubashi’s tepig evolved into a pignite.

Manami was happy for them, of course, but he couldn’t help but feel a little bitter. This was exactly what he’d feared, everyone was having fun while he was sick as usual. At least he had a new friend, and it was somewhat entertaining to see how phantump tried to get along with swablu and wooper, but that just meant someone else would be stuck inside with him if he couldn’t continue his journey.

He lied to his parents about being fine, went to sleep early and got up and out the next morning despite not having fully recovered.

There was a city up ahead, and incredible fields of flowers right behind it, he just couldn’t wait anymore. It was annoying to ride with a cough, but he could totally do it, even if by the end of the day he had a fever again.

This situation was inacceptable. He couldn’t keep going like this, having to take a break every other day. He wouldn’t get anywhere. The nurse at the pokémon center recommended catching a comfey in the flower fields if he had a cough regularly, as they were known for their soothing scent and healing abilities.

Manami set out to do just that the next day, and since a flabébé jumped into his field of vision multiple times to get his attention, he caught that too.

Still, it wasn’t enough. He had to find a permanent solution. While he hadn’t really accomplished much yet, Manami had learned one thing on his journey: he loved being a pokémon trainer. There was no way he could ever go back to how his life was before, now that he’d had a taste of how great _real_ life was.

He didn’t feel up to continuing his journey or challenging the gym the next day, so he texted Miyahara, asking what she’d do if she had a problem she really, desperately needed to solve but for the life of her couldn’t figure out on her own, and nobody she asked had a real answer either. Her answer was surprisingly straightforward: hit the library. Or the internet. Even if nobody in his immediate vicinity knew a way to help him, humanity as a whole had accumulated an incredible amount of knowledge and wisdom.

So that’s what he did. He holed himself up in the library all day, looking through all sorts of books and websites. It wasn’t easy to find anything – he wasn’t a medical scholar, and those had never been able to really help him anyway – but he did find one book that might have a solution, albeit one that sounded crazy.

The book dealt with local myths and legends, and one of them told the story of jirachi, the wish-granting pokémon. In ancient times, people had worshipped it and built a temple for it on top of the nearby mountain. According to oral tradition, if you went up there all by yourself and had an incredibly strong wish, jirachi would appear and grant it for you.

Of course, the book made sure to say it was only a myth, and at least in recent times, there were no records of jirachi appearing to anyone. The temple was in ruins, too, so it was unlikely it still lived there.

In other words, it wasn’t really a solution, but so far it was the only hint Manami had, and he was willing to try. He just had to bet everything he had on it. No risk, no reward, right?

He took another rest day in the city afterward, though he did challenge the gym. It was ground type, so with swablu being immune to their attacks and wooper and phantump hitting them back super effectively, he actually made his way through and beat the gym leader, earning his first badge. Despite having hardly moved though, he was dead tired in the evening, and his resolve to climb up to the temple hardened. He told nobody about his plans, only sent a picture of the badge to his friends and even his parents to show he wasn’t completely left behind, even if Doubashi already got his second badge.

The next morning, he got up as early as he could, before the sun had even properly risen, and made his way to the mountain. Once he reached the outskirts of it, he turned off the motor on his bike and set to climb. There was no way to know for sure, of course, but Manami thought jirachi would sense any dishonesty. He had to get up there by himself.

Climbing a mountain on a bike was much, much harder than he anticipated. It took forever, and soon every turn of the pedals felt like it would rip off his legs. But he kept going, face forward, without breaks, only sipping from his water bottle occasionally.

Even just reaching the end of the road took him until sunset, and from there on it was a straight set of stairs up to the temple. Manami couldn’t even see the top from where he stood. Still, he laid his bike on the ground and started climbing up without a hint of hesitation. He didn’t know how long these stairs were, but they couldn’t be endless, and they were leading him to his goal. His goal, a tiny fraction of a chance that an old legend actually turned out to be completely true. It was the best chance he had.

The air around him was starting to get thinner, and Manami considered getting out comfey to help him breathe, but he instinctively knew this was something he had to do alone or it would be pointless. So he put his foot forward once more, one more step up, even as his lungs burned and protested the lack of oxygen. So what if he was wheezing? So what if his legs felt heavier than stone? So what if he was gonna collapse like Sakamichi had? Right here, right now, Manami felt alive. He could feel every nerve in his body, and his surroundings were clearer to him than ever. The wind, the light of the moon rising in the sky, the harsh stone beneath his feet, the smell of the plants growing beside the stairs, the pokémon living up here and rustling around, everything, his mind noticed every liitle thing without getting overwhelmed. It was the best feeling in the world. Even just for this, it would’ve been worth it to climb this mountain.

When he reached the top, it was already night. The temple ruins were completely empty, the roof was long since gone, and all in all, there was just _nothing_ there. No life, no wind, no sound. Just emptiness.

Manami barely even registered it, he just collapsed onto the cold stone floor in a coughing fit. Once it eased up a little, he rolled onto his back. The stars above him were shining incredibly brightly, brighter than he’d ever seen before, and as he was about to drift to sleep, Manami thought even if he didn’t wake up again tomorrow, this sight was worth it.

But before he could close his eyes, one of the stars started shining more and more, and Manami slightly belatedly realized that it was coming closer, until it was a ball of pure light right in front of his eyes. Then the light dimmed and Manami could make out the form of jirachi as it unfurled its wings and opened its eyes, looking at him curiously.

He… he made it. Jirachi was here. It might grant him a wish.

He should’ve thought about what exactly he wanted to say beforehand. Maybe this was like a genie, and if you formulated it wrong, you got something completely different from what you wanted. But somehow, he didn’t get that feeling from jirachi. Its gaze was calm and steady, not mischievous, and if anything, he thought it was trying to figure out how to grant his nebulous wish the best.

So he thought of what he wanted the most. He thought of Miyahara burying her face in books about pokémon and her desire to learn everything there was about them, about Doubashi dashing forward without a care for himself and others in his quest to become the strongest, about Sakamichi and his incredible excitement when it came to even the simplest pokémon-related things, and about the two boys that didn’t even blink at the sight of a legendary pokémon and headed into the most dangerous part of a forest fire simply because they had the power to do something about it, unlike most everyone else.

He wanted to be like them. He wanted to be able to feel alive, to find his own goal, maybe even to inspire others like these people had inspired him.

“I want to become strong.”

His voice wouldn’t get louder than a whisper, but jirachi smiled, and the last thing Manami saw that night was the third eye on jirachi’s stomach opening.

He woke up the next morning feeling refreshed, even though his head and back hurt from sleeping on stone.

It didn’t feel like much had changed, if anything at all, so maybe the encounter had been nothing but a dream his exhausted brain had chosen to take for reality. But somehow, he’d felt warm and safe the entire night, a strange energy buzzing through him, so he didn’t believe it. His legs hurt from yesterday’s exhaustion too, but as he started to make his way back down from the mountain, his steps felt incredibly light anyway.

This was the real start of his pokémon adventure.

**Author's Note:**

> Hit me up on my tumblr evvazi if you wanna talk yowapeda or pokémon or both!


End file.
